Investigation over Injury

Johno2090

First i'd like to say thank you for coming here and thinking about reading my post!

On 21/12/10 I had an accident at work, I slipped and fell on a patch of black ice (caused by another companies fault in the airport I work in) I fell onto my back and bruised my coccyx which at the time didnt impede work. The next morning I was in pain and couldn't really have done work in my state (I do physical Labour e.g. Lifting). So I Notified my boss at 4.44am (5.30am start time) before the start of my shift (by text message since I did not have any credit on my phone). He replied to me so I know he recived it.... The message read:

"Sorry no credit to call. My Coccyx is causing me grief this morning, like a stabbing pain when I bend. Have taken pain killers but no way I can work like this. My Name"

Now upon starting work again today (I was only off work for 2 days with the back injury) I was given a letter telling me I was having an investigatory meeting at 10am on the 30/12/10 so around 24 hours notice! Stating that I had not followed company procedure and failed to turn up for my duties on the 22/12/10. While this was true I was told that It was in my contract to call up every day I was sick so they know I'm not coming in. My problem arises in the fact that nowhere in my contract does it tell me to call up every morning at 4am to tell them I am still injured, common sense to me would have me inform then once when I was injured and once when i was preparing to come back to work.


Here is my Contract Regarding Absences through sickness or injury.

If you are unable to attend work for any reason other than approved holidays you should arrange for your immediate manager to be notified no later than 30 minutes after your normal starting time. You should provide details of your reason for absence and the likely duration. Should your manager be unavailable, then you must notify his/her representative. Failure to comply with this requirement may lead to loss of entitlement to Statutory Sick Pay.

If you are absent for more than 3 working days you must inform your manager that your absence is continuing and give further details of the nature and probable duration.

Yadda Yadda yadda.

While I see it there was nothing telling me to constantly call them telling I was sick, However I didn't notify them of how long I was going to be off with my sore back....

Where do I stand?

MrRedundant

I agree with them. A text message like that wasn't enough. You needed to speak to them and give them a duration to avoid the having to contact them in my view every day.

Text isnt a suitable medium for this sort of thing; neither is texting once and just going back when it suits you.

Johno2090

In normal circumstances I would have phoned but as I had no credit I was in a bit of bother.

Googlewhacker

Untill you get a sick note from the Dr (After 7 days of self certification) I would expect people to phone every day they are due in work to say they won't be in as a common sense approach.

However I would guess you go in there, have this conversation and say you didn't realise you had to inform every day etc etc and nothing comes of it and this is a formality more than anything.

I'd be amazed if this gets taken any further as it is only one day we are talking about

clairec79

I have a feeling that because you didn't notify them of when you were well in their eyes you were sick from 22/12/10 to 28/12/10 whereas if you had said you weren't well enough to work 'today or tomorrow' (on the 22/12) youd have got away with not calling for the 23rd.

You said they replied to your text for the 22nd, have you got the reply? that should be able to prove you did notify them within time for the 22nd, it's the 23rd that you are on dodgy ground with IMHO

Sambucus_Nigra

It also says that failure to do that [which you did anyway] may lead to loss of SSP - not result in a disciplinary.

Interesting - make sure you quote their words at them and keep the response from your manager..showing that he was indeed informed.

bigsooze

Having no credit might be a reason for texting initially, but it's reasonable for your employer to expect you to find a way to speak to them at some point later that day either by getting credit or by ringing from a landline. In any case, it's your responsibility to make sure you have enough credit so I wouldn't expect much sympathy from them on that front.

What's your absence history like? I would tend to be more lenient if you had a good attendance history (and if you do I would play on this) but if you have previous absences or previous incidents of not ringing in, they might be a bit tougher. And if you've been absent before, and followed their reporting process correctly before, they will probably use that to suggest you did understand what you were supposed to do.

bluetownbarry

Not much to add to what has already been said, other than most employers specifically stipulate that sending a text is not an acceptable method of reporting absence. Also, a lot of employers would require a call with at least an hours notice. Again, most employers would require a call at least 24 hours before you commence your next shift.

This clearly isn't a gross misconduct issue so unless you have similar incidents on file, I can't see this being more than 'words of guidance re reporting absence'. If they really wanted to punish you, they could give you a written warning (perhaps for 12 or 24 months).

It would be worth looking at your company hand book and if you are a member of a union, getting advice from them.

For what it's worth, when you have the meeting, don't try and be 'clever' admit your mistake, apologise for it & convince them you have learnt from this experience.